Game Recap: Cubs Close out Cactus League with Loss to A's |
Dustin Riese
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- 1 day ago
MESA - The 2025 Cactus League season came to an end for the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, and for the most part, it was an overall success. Anytime you can start Cactus League play with an 8-0-3 record, you're doing something right, as the Cubs got off to as good of a start as you can hope for.
Then, the struggles came into play, with many of those struggles coming at the worst time. The Cubs managed just three wins over their final two weeks of competition and settled for an 11-8-3 record this Spring. That includes three straight losses to close out the Cactus League after returning home from Japan, with their most recent loss to the Sacramento Athletics 8-1, closing out the spring portion of their schedule. That alone has been a common trend for the Cubs since returning from Japan, as their offense has struggled to settle back in while the pitching has been subpar at best. You saw a lot of those same trends again in this one, although Matthew Boyd wasn't as bad as some would think. The left-hander gave the Cubs the longest outing by any pitcher this spring, tossing 5 2/3 frames to close out what was an up-and-down preseason. Boyd walked one, struck out three, and allowed three runs on six hits, which is all you can ask from him. However, with Osvaldo Bido holding the Cubs to just two hits through four innings, Boyd's outing wouldn't have made a difference, as the Cubs' offense couldn't get anything going most of the game. It only took the Athletics one inning to grab the lead, with Brent Rooker taking Boyd deep in the first, and they never looked back. That now makes two straight games where the Cubs practically trailed start to finish to end the spring and that alone has to be a concern. One of the two hits off Bido came in the first inning off a Justin Turner single, but with no more base runners through three innings things weren't looking good for this team. Compare that to the Athletics, who added to their lead in the fourth on a JJ Bleday sacrifice fly, and it was the Cubs who were trailing 2-0. The odd-numbered innings were the theme for the Athletics as they added a third run in the fifth off a Max Schuemann homer, and the Cubs continued to search for answers while trailing 3-0. It took six innings for Chicago to push a run across, and it came with the offense picking up more hits in that inning than they did the entire game up to that point. Leave it to the bottom of the order to do the damage as Pete Crow-Armstrong got things rolling with a one-out single before advancing to second on a Nico Hoerner single. Two batters later, Miguel Amaya came through for his second hit of the game as he drove in the Cubs' only run to make this a 3-1 game. One inning later, it was the Cubs once again putting the pressure on the Athletics as they had a great opportunity to not only tie things up but also to grab their first lead of the game. That all started with a leadoff walk to Gage Workman before the Ben Cowles hit-by-pitch put two runners on with no outs. Workman wound up getting thrown out trying to steal third later in the inning which proved costly as Andy Garriola worked a walk shortly after that before the next two hitters struck out to end any additional threats. It was in the eighth inning when the Athletics put the game away for good, and it came off with Colin Rea having his worst outing of the spring, as he was charged with four earned runs in that inning and five runs total. The first of those came off the Logan Davidson single to extend the lead to 4-1 while the Colby Halter three-run shot capped off the massive inning and put the A's in front 7-1. Sacramento would add another run in the ninth off the Nick Kurtz homer for good measure as they closed out Cactus League play with an 8-1 win over the Cubs. Amaya led the way for the Cubs with two of the team's five hits and the lone RBI, as Turner, PCA, and Hoerner had the remaining three hits. The Cubs will now welcome the Atlanta Braves to Sloan Park for the first time as they will play a pair of exhibition games on Monday and Tuesday.
